In the Closet
by EndlessStorm
Summary: May had always hated the League Christmas party. This year, though, was the first year that Steven Stone planned to attend, and she was dreading it more than ever. Steven/May. Christmas!Fic.


**A/N: Hi guys! Merry Christmas, if you celebrate it! If you don't, happy holidays! If you don't celebrate anything, then I hope you're just having a good day. So, this is a Christmas/other holidays/have a good day present to all of you. I hope you like it! If you got anything fun for [holiday of your choosing], tell me in the comments!**

**By the way, this was supposed to be Romance/Comedy, but there was a lot more drama than I expected. **

* * *

><p>May had always hated the Pokemon League Christmas parties, but she was dreading this year's in particular.<p>

Most people in the League eagerly awaited the annual party. It was a long night of Secret Santa presents, games normally suited for kids' parties but now with an adult twist, and lots and lots of champagne. They rented out a venue in Ever Grande and paid the owners enough to keep their mouths closed about anything that went down during it. It was a big party, and to be invited meant that you were someone important. The guest list included the Champion, Elite Four members, gym leaders, and anybody else who had a big name in the region. This included Professor Birch and, by extension, his son, Brendan. It included Lisia, who had made a name for herself with her consistent winning-streak in contests.

It also included Steven Stone, who, for the first time since May had become Champion, was actually in the region on Christmas and agreed to come.

As Champion, May had been put in charge of most of the planning. Luckily, as her years as Champion had gotten her very accustomed to giving orders, she passed on as many tasks as possible to the rest of the Elite Four (who had set her up to do all of the work in the first place). She was still in charge of going through all of the RSVPs, though, and when she got to Steven's, she expected to see the "Decline to attend" box checked. She pushed it to the side without really checking.

Then, she froze, and grabbed the card again. He normally didn't even bother to return the card at all, as he was usually out of the region. So if he mailed it back...

There was a little "x" in the "Attending" box and a tiny smiley face drawn next to it.

May crumpled the card in her hand and shakily wrote Steven's name down on the RSVP'd list.

* * *

><p>It wasn't that May had anything against Steven, per se. Her last two encounters with him just hadn't been great.<p>

Steven had been one of May's best friends when she was on her journey- at least, she considered him a friend. She wasn't entirely sure what he considered her. Every time they met, each time seeming more and more unlikely to be a coincidence, Steven always gave her praise and merit for how well she was doing on her journey. And each time, he would have something to give her. He was the entire reason she even got her Latios, who was a big part of the reason why she was able to defeat Team Magma and become the Champion of the region.

So, obviously, Steven was very important to her.

That's why it came as such a slap in the face when he left. A few weeks after she beat him in battle, and after she had to catch Rayquaza and defeat Deoxys, she was being inaugurated into position as Champion. There was a ceremony and everything. And Steven didn't show up.

Afterwards, with tears in her eyes and her dress clothes getting more and more rumpled, she flew on Latios straight to Mossdeep. She pounded angrily on Steven's door for several minutes, expecting him to answer. Instead, she was forced to let herself into his house, which he never locked. And she was forced to be left alone with only a note and a Pokeball.

Even though it was with bitterness and took a long time, she trained the Beldum up into an amazing Metagross who is now a very big and important part of her team.

She didn't see Steven until over a year later. He woke her up with a knock on the door of her apartment in Ever Grande, with a giant grin and holding a rose-colored stone incased in a glass box.

May, with her hair knotted up in a nasty bed-hair and wearing only a pair of pink pajamas with little Skittys on them, gaped.

"Hi, May!" Steven said giddily. "May I come in?"

Flabbergasted at the man who had disappeared from her life and was now back in it just as suddenly as he had left, she slammed the door in his face.

After a few seconds of regaining her composure, May opened the door back up to the now-frowning Steven. "Please," she said, a little breathless, "Come right in."

Steven smiled again and let himself in. May shut the door shakily.

"May, I have so much to tell you!" Not waiting for permission, Steven sat down on one of May's two adjacent couches and folded one leg over the other. "Kanto was so-"

"Steven."

"It was so amazing, May! And I have to show you this gem! When I found it, I thought of you immediately, y'know. It's just like-"

"Steven."

"This had to be the first place I came when I got back to the region! Well, after Wallace's, of course, because I had to find out where you were living now. Not that I doubted that you were still Champion, of course, but-"

"Steven, shut the hell up for a minute, won't you?" May snapped. That shut him up, and he rose to his feet slowly, leaving the stone on the couch.

"May, what's wrong?" He approached her and reached out to put a gentle hand on her cheek. She stepped back as if she had been burned, and Steven flinched and lowered his hand.

"What's _wrong_? You're seriously asking me what's _wrong_? Steven, you abandoned me. You ditched me. You left. And you didn't even say goodbye."

"I left a note," Steven murmured, looking hurt and a little confused. Then, he seemed to remember something, and perked up a bit. "Oh! How's Beldum doing?"

"It's a Metagross now," May muttered and walked past him to pick up the stone he set down, still protected in the glass case.

"Oh, that's great! May, you're such a great trainer. I entrusted you with one of my favorite Pokemon because I knew that you would raise it right! You always do."

May turned around slowly, emotions raging inside her. On one hand, there was a burning feeling behind her eyes as she tried not to cry, and it took all of her willpower not to hug the man and stay there forever. On the other, there was a burning _rage_ in her chest as the last year without him flashed back to her.

_And he doesn't even care. _

Angrily, May ripped the top off of the glass case and threw it back on the couch along with the base after she removed the stone. She stared at it as if it was the true source of all of her pain. Steven disappeared for over a year and he for some reason thought that bringing her a _stone_ would make up for it. It felt a bit like one of those "Someone who loves me very much went to [awesome place] and all I got was this stupid T-shirt!" shirts.

"Ah, yes. That's a rose quartz. It's supposed to radiate a positive aura! It reminded me of you because wherever you went on your journey, you always made everybody feel good." Steven had a wide smile on his face and still seemed completely oblivious.

That just made May more and more angry. "You don't even care," she whispered to herself, horrified, staring at her hands.

"Care about what?" Steven asked, sounding genuinely confused.

"Do you have any idea what kind of hell the last year has been without you?" May finally said, looking up at him, fully aware that there were now tears in her eyes. She tried to blink away her clouded vision, but it just made it worse.

"May," Steven said softly, stepping towards her again. "I... I'm so sorry, I had no idea-"

"Of course you didn't. You were too busy collecting _rocks_," she spit out.

Steven didn't say anything in response, and that broke May. "A goddamn _quartz_ isn't going to make up for what you put me through," she shouted, her voice cracking a bit towards the end and tears fully flowing down her face now. She threw the rosy gem down on the floor and it shattered.

When she realized what she did, she took a step back and stared at her hands, horrified at what they did, as if they did it of their own accord and not because she had been throwing a tantrum.

She expected Steven to get angry, or at the very least _upset_, and she looked up at him like a child expecting to get scolded. Instead, Steven just took a deep breath before stepping forward and pulling her into a tight hug. She froze for a moment before breaking down and just sobbing into his dress shirt. He rubbed her back comfortingly and whispered, "I'm so sorry," over and over again into her hair.

After her tears seemed to run dry, May stepped back. Steven's hands remained on her arms, and she removed them gently. She pointed to the door. "Get out."

Steven looked even more hurt, as if thinking that the moment they shared was enough to quell her unhappiness. "May..."

"Go. Please."

"May, please let me make it up to you!"

"Please get out!" May couldn't take it anymore. She stormed out of the room and hid in the hallway until she heard the front door open and then close. Then, she slid to the floor and cried into her hands.

That was only the first case.

The second case came nearly a year later, only a a few months ago now. May had made it a point to ignore all of the calls she got from Steven. He would leave a message every time, and she didn't allow herself to listen to those, either, because she knew that she would break down and call him back. At some point, he stopped leaving messages. A while after that, he stopped calling altogether.

She also purposely avoiding going to any event that Steven would be present at. She skipped the semi-annual League conference (which Steven would be at because he was the previous Champion and technically the one who would take her place if something was to happen to her) with the excuse that she was sick. It was obvious to the whole League that she was faking, and the comments about her fight with Steven lasted for weeks.

"It's not a fight," she told everyone.

But when the next League conference came around six months later, she couldn't miss it. She had too many duties as Champion. So, she had to go, and that meant that she had to make the acquaintance of Steven Stone.

The meeting went perfectly fine, but it was what came after that hurt. Now with the professional stuff done, everybody waited around and mingled for a while before going on their way. May felt weird to be the first one leaving, so she leaned up against a wall and took a sip of her water.

Then Steven approached the refreshments table to get himself some water, and May immediately regretted her position.

"Hi... Steven," she eventually choked out.

He met her eyes with a look that was hard to read. It looked kind of like he was partially glad to see her, but partially still hurt. Her chest hurts with guilt. "Hello," he said softly, and averted his gaze.

May didn't say anything else. The awkwardness of this conversation was so much worse than the hostility of the first.

* * *

><p>"Damn, May, you look hot!"<p>

May cringed and slowly turned around to flash Zinnia a fake smile. May was wearing a strapless red dress combined with black tights and ankle boots. Her hair was let loose of her regular pigtails and instead fell down her back in ringlets. The dragon trainer opposite of her was wearing a similar outfit, but in all black. May would have expected nothing less.

"Thanks, you too," May said through her teeth. She loved Zinnia, she really did. The girl had grown to become one of her best friends over the years. She was just a little-

"Has everyone seen how hot Champion May looks tonight?!"

_Loud._

May rolled her eyes as a few people whistled sarcastically and Zinnia pulled her into a tight hug. "Thanks, Zin," she muttered. Thinking back on it, she couldn't remember ever seeing Zinnia's name on the RSVP list. She was sure that the girl wasn't even invited. May wasn't surprised, though.

May didn't get to talk to her friend for long, as the party was starting and she got swept along in the crowd and caught up in trying to talk to everyone. She talked to Professor Birch about some new upgrades to the PokeDex, talked to Brawly about how the cold weather recently had put a real damper on surfing, and talked to Winona about the sudden influx of Secret Bases in Fortree City.

The one person she didn't see, however, was Steven.

May knew that she should be grateful; she didn't want him here! Though her heart still hurt when she though of him and it had been ages since she had gotten to talk to him as her actual friend, she couldn't stand to have an awkward silence again. Plus, it would surely draw the attention of the other party guests and just stir up more drama.

So why did she keep watching the door?

"You look a little lost, dear," a voice behind her said.

She sighed, turning to face Wallace. "I am, I guess," she mumbled.

"He'll be here," Wallace said confidently. May raised an eyebrow at him. Was she really that easy to read?

"Has he... said anything to you? About me, I mean. Recently." May felt bad for asking, but Wallace _was_ Steven's best friend...

Wallace rolled his eyes. "What _hasn't_ he said about you?"

"You'd better not be talking about me again, Wallace."

May's felt the blood drain from her face, and then immediately return to her face as her cheeks fell into a deep flush. Steven Stone was suddenly just /there,/ a hand on Wallace's shoulder and although there was a smile on his face, the two men seemed to be having a silent conversation. After a moment, they broke the stare, and Steven patted Wallace on the back. "Good to see you, my friend."

With that, he started to walk away. Was that really it? Was he not going to say anything to her? 'Well, that's what happened last time,' May thought.

He whipped around as quickly as he had left. "Oh, May," he said, with a gentle smile. Hairs on her arm stood up at the sound of her name in his mouth once more. "You look lovely." And that was it, because then he was walking away and engaging in conversation with some of the gym leaders. May watched him as he told a joke (probably a bad one) and he, along with the rest of the group, threw their heads back and laughed.

"You two are hopeless," Wallace said quietly, looking at her with pity. It snapped her out of her daze and she quickly looked away from Steven, embarrassed that she'd been staring.

She met Wallace's gaze without breaking eye contact for a long moment. He seemed to be reading her, and May was sure that the water trainer could probably see more than she herself could.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," she muttered eventually.

* * *

><p>The next hour went by similarly. May continued to make pleasant but somewhat-fake conversation and stare at Steven, who continued to ignore her. Well, he wasn't <em>ignoring<em> her; she hadn't actually attempted to talk to him. But she felt that maybe, just maybe, he would want to talk to her enough that he would start the conversation. For the first time in over two years, May felt ready to talk back.

A waiter walked by with a platter of champagne glasses. May picked one up before he could even stop and offer her one. It wasn't her first. In fact, several people were already getting quite tipsy. May wondered if anybody was keeping an eye on Tate and Liza, who were teleporting around and materializing in random parts in the room in order to try to startle people.

Suddenly, May was aware of someone tapping their silverware on their champagne glass. It hurt her ears, and she cringed. The noise in the room died down a bit and everyone looked to Phoebe, who had stood on a chair to make up for her short height.

"I think we should get started with some games!" she announced, and most of the crowd chorused in agreement. "I say we play Seven Minutes in Heaven!"

"We're not twelve," May said out loud, looking around in confusion. She expected that people would be laughing or pointing out how stupid that was, as this was an adult's party, but no one did. In fact, most of them seemed to be interested.

"How is that a Christmas game?" May called out to no one.

Wallace walked by and put a Santa hat on her head. "Sit down, Mr. Grinch." She grumbled and tossed the hat on a nearby table.

May would not participate. She would not.

Zinnia ran up to her and grabbed her hand, pulling her towards the circle that had started on the floor. May noticed that the older people, including her dad Norman, Drake, Glacia, Wattson, and the other older VIPS were standing off to the side, looking amused. They had Tate and Liza with them, too. "No, Zin, I'm not playing, this is ridiculous-"

"Shhhhh," Zinnia said, putting a finger to her lips and staring at May with her usual crazy-wide eyes. May wondered how much champagne she'd had. May herself needed more.

Feeling defeated, May plopped down on the floor next to Zinnia. The younger gym leaders, Elite Four, and other VIPS were all seated. Some looked excited, some scared, and some just downright tired. May was the latter.

Then she met Steven's eyes from directly across the circle. She was shocked that he was willing to participate in such an immature game while he himself was such a stone-faced adult (no pun intended). He gave her a small smile, but didn't hold eye contact for long. May groaned to herself. What was up with him? Him pretending that everything was just peachy was even worse than him ignoring her or getting angry.

"Okay, who wants to spin first?" Phoebe asked, rejoining the circle whilst holding an empty champagne bottle that she then set down in the middle.

Nobody looked super excited to go first, so Wallace raised his hand dramatically and sighed as if that hadn't been what he wanted all along. He moved forward a bit on his knees and spun the green bottle. Everyone seemed to hold their breath until it landed... on Flannery.

Wallace grinned and Flannery's cheeks blushed nearly as bright as her hair. She stood up jerkily and started walking with Wallace in the direction of the closet, as several people in the circle whooped and catcalled. Wallace reached out to jokingly put a hand around the girl's waist and she viciously slapped his hand away. Everyone laughed. "Don't mix fire and water," Brawly said with a grin.

"I'm starting your time now!" Phoebe shouted as the closet door slammed shut. She pressed a timer on her PokeNav and it started ticking down from seven minutes.

For May, the time went quickly, but she was sure that it felt much longer to the people in the closet... well, it was _Wallace_, so maybe not. When they came out, Wallace had a smug smirk on his face and Flannery looked even more embarrassed than before.

Next, Roxanne spun. When the bottle landed on Brendan, she sighed and the boy pumped his fist and yelled, _"Yes!"_

The game continued. Brawly and Phoebe. Winona and Roxanne. Lisia and Sidney. Zinnia and Wallace. Flannery and Brawly. Winona and Sidney.

The turns were moving counterclockwise, and suddenly it was May's turn and she couldn't breathe.

She looked around at her friends' smirks and shakily spun the bottle. She'd be fine with anyone except-

Steven. Of course.

She sat there gaping in shock for long enough that Steven came over and offered her a hand to help her up. She accepted his help and, when he didn't immediately drop her hand, she pulled away. To the sound of whistles, whoops (that sounded suspiciously like Wallace's voice), and Zinnia's, "Yeah! Get it, girl!", they headed to the closet.

Steven closed the closet door quietly, but it sounded like a judge's gavel falling as he sentenced someone to death. May fell back against a rack of coats, trying to let the smell of different people's perfumes and colognes wash over her to distract her from her predicament.

"So..." Steven started, rubbing the back of his neck and looking down awkwardly.

Oh god. This was literally May's nightmare.

"I'm sorry," May whispered, then smacked a hand over her mouth. Where did that come from? She meant it, but she didn't mean to _say_ it.

Steven looked up at her with wide, shocked eyes. "... For what?" he said eventually. "I'm the one who should apologize..."

"You've apologized enough," May said quietly, trying to hide her pain but sure that it was obvious on her face. "And I've just been too stubborn to realize that you cared enough to _actually_ be sorry. I'm sorry for basically doing the same thing to you that you'd done to me. I sent you away and then continued to ignore you. _I_ abandoned _you_."

Steven took a step forward, and May sunk back farther into the coats. How much time had passed? Had it been seven minutes yet?

"May," he whispered. Hearing him say her name like that, so gently, sent shivers down her back. He stepped forward again. May couldn't move back anymore with out being fully enveloped by the coats, but maybe that would have been the best thing at the moment, anyways.

"And now I've ruined everything," May continued. Better to get everything out there now. "Because now you don't even care anymore. I screwed up too bad."

Steven frowned. "What do you mean, I don't care?" he asked quietly, confusion in his eyes.

"You've hardly noticed me all night," May muttered bitterly. She didn't meet Steven's eyes and instead focused on his outfit. He normally dressed nice, but tonight he looked even more spiffy. He was wearing a black suit as opposed to his normal purple, silver, or blue one. He had a bright red tie on, probably to make his outfit a bit more festive. May tried to ignore the fact that the tie happened to be near the exact same hue as her dress, and if they were at any other event, people might have thought they were a couple with cute, coordinating outfits.

Steven looked shocked. "May, I'd sort of given up," he said. There was genuine hurt in his voice, but a hint of spite, too. "I never thought you'd give me the time of day again. I didn't talk to you because I didn't want to get hurt anymore."

The guilt hit May like a sack of bricks. "Why... why did you even care so much? I'm nothing special, and I've never had anything to offer you." She ran a shaking hand through her hair, trying to appear unfazed.

Steven inhaled sharply and stepped forward again. There now wasn't much space between them, and May was starting to feel claustrophobic. She was waiting anxiously for Phoebe to yell that their time was up and that they could come back out.

"May," Steven whispered, and raised a hand to cup May's cheek. She cringed, but he didn't lower he hand. Instead, he stepped closer again until there was only an inch between them she could feel his warm breath against her head. "You have _no idea_ how much you mean to me. You're the most amazing girl I've ever met, and being apart for years hasn't changed anything."

May shook and wished she could teleport away. If only she had her Gardevoir with her. Against her will, her hands rose and her arms wrapped around Steven's neck. He cleared the remaining space between them and fully embraced her.

"You're an idiot," she muttered against his chest. Despite the tenseness of the situation, Steven laughed against her hair, a broken, desperate sound.

"Why's that?" he murmured, pulling away and meeting her eyes with a look of amusement.

"For not realizing you could do so much better."

He shook his head, the seriousness returning to his face. "Not possible."

Her heart beating in her chest like a drum, May pulled him back into the hug. She felt tears stinging in her eyes, and she forced them back so as to not screw up her makeup this early into the evening. She was sure that if she walked out of the closet with messy makeup, the first assumption wouldn't be that she had been crying.

"What if I still have feelings for you?" May mumbled, her voice muffled by his shirt.

Steven chuckled lightly. "That'd be nice, because I sort of still have feelings for _you,_" he said gently. Then he stiffened slightly. "Wait, are you saying you had feelings for me_ before_?"

May's eyes widened, then she squeezed them shut again. Busted. "Do you blame me? You're _dreamboat Steven Stone_," she taunted, mocking how the media referred to him.

She couldn't see him, but she knew that Steven was rolling his eyes. "If I had known, I never would have left..."

May grew more tense. "That's why I was mad that you left, idiot."

"I'm so sorry, May..."

"Hush," she muttered, clumsily raising a hand to cover his mouth. She felt him smile against her fingers. He mumbled something incoherent, and she reluctantly removed her hand. "Huh?"

"I said that they're probably wondering why it's so quiet in here."

"Oh," May said, and smiled flirtatiously as she brought his head down closer to hers and moved so their noses brushed against each other. "Maybe we should change that, then."

Steven brought his lips down to meet hers, and an instant later, Phoebe was yelling, "Alright, guys! Time's up! You can come out!"

Steven swore and May pulled away awkwardly.

"Y'know, we don't _have_ to go out," she said provocatively. When Steven looked down at her in confusion, May reached over and flipped the lock on the closet door. Steven smiled at her in the darkness. An instant later, May was jumping up and wrapped her legs around his waist. Steven stumbled back a bit, but managed to put one strong hand on her leg (suspiciously close to her butt) and one on her lower back, steadying her. She slammed her lips against his.

Ten minutes later, Phoebe was pounding on the door, yelling, "Seriously, guys! It's time to come out!" Neither of them responded, as their mouths were already occupied, and eventually she sighed heavily and they could hear her telling the rest of the party guests that the game was over.

May's makeup was going to be _so_ messed up after this.


End file.
